RoMEO is a searchable database of publisher's policies regarding the self- archiving of journal articles on the web and in Open Access repositories.

What use is RoMEO to me?

If an academic author wants to put their research articles on-line, they are faced with an increasingly complex situation. Evidence shows that citations to articles made openly accessible in this way are taken up and cited more often than research that is simply published in journals. Also some funding agencies require open access archiving for their research, to increase the use of the information generated.

However, some publishers prohibit authors from using their own articles in this way. Others allow it, but only under certain conditions, while others are quite happy for authors to show their work in this way.

Authors can be left confused: RoMEO helps to clarify the situation.

What does RoMEO contain?

RoMEO contains publishers' general policies on self-archiving of journal articles and certain conference series. Each entry provides a summary of the publisher's policy, including what version of an article can be deposited, where it can be deposited, and any conditions that are attached to that deposit.

RoMEO covers peer-reviewed journals and serials. Journal titles are gathered from publishers' websites and supplemented with by feeds from the British Library's Zetoc service, DOAJ, and Entrez.

If RoMEO does not cover the title you are interested in, please try searching for the Publisher instead. Also, please contact us to tell us about the gap in our data.

RoMEO does not provide self-archiving information on books, monographs, theses or conference papers, however, some series titles may be covered.

How many journals does RoMEO cover?

RoMEO's own database covers over 22,000 journals. RoMEO also searches the Zetoc, DOAJ, and Entrez databases for additional journals.

What publishers does RoMEO cover?

RoMEO provides the general policy of publishers of peer-reviewed journals and serials, that have been suggested by users. If the publisher you are looking for is not listed on RoMEO, please suggest it - Making a Suggestion.

How many publishers are covered by RoMEO?

RoMEO is updated regularly, a current figure for the number of publishers on RoMEO can be found here on RoMEOs Statistics Page.

Our summaries are based on publisher's copyright transfer agreements, open access policies, and other publisher documents that are available online, along with personal communications with the publisher.
We standardise these policies using SHERPA terms for ease of comparison between publishers. If you believe the publishers policy has changed please contact us.

What do the terms Green and Blue refer to?

The RoMEO service uses a simple colour-code to classify policies. More details on the colour codes used on RoMEO can be found here.

I have contacted this publisher and they say they allow pre-prints to be archived, but you claim they allow post-prints, why is your entry wrong?

Publishers may use the term pre-print to define all forms of the article prior to print publication. SHERPA follows an academic practise of defining pre-prints as a draft of an academic article or other publication before it has been submitted for peer-review or other quality assurance procedure as part of the publication process. Preprints cover initial and successive drafts of articles, working papers or draft conference papers. Post-print is then the form of the article as it is submitted for printing - i.e. after all peer-review changes are in place. Further definitions used by SHERPA can be found here.

The section on Mandates OA indicates whether the above publisher policy complies with the relevant funding agency's open access requirements. If there is a tick present, then the policy for that publisher meets that particular funder's mandates e.g. Wellcome Trust. However if another funder has a cross beside their name, the publishers policy does not meet their mandates e.g. NIH. Each funder's name link is linked to their entry in JULIET, which provides a summary of the relevant mandate.

What does 'Paid OA' mean?

Paid OA refers to the Paid Open Access options provided by some publishers. These enable the authors to have their work provided in an open access manner or allow deposit in a repository in exchange for a fee. A list of the Publishers with Paid OA options listed in RoMEO, can be found here. The presence of a Paid OA option does not affect the RoMEO colour of the publisher.

What about the Publisher's version/PDF?

Each Publisher entry indicates if the Publishers' version/PDF can be archived. In addition, a list of the publishers in RoMEO which allow the use of their PDF can be found here.

What is an 'exception'?

An exception is where a journal or group of journals follows a different policy to the majority of a publisher's titles.

How do I find out when an entry was last updated?

Each publisher entry contains a date indicating when that entry was last updated. Currently, RoMEO is unable to provide online access to previous publisher entries. However, we are more than happy to consult our paper records to assist such enquiries.

How do I link to a specific entry?

Most RoMEO publisher and journal records include a 'Link to this page' URL. The publisher links use RoMEO's persistent publisher identifiers, while journal links use the ISSN or ESSN. More complex links are possible. Full instructions can be found here.

RoMEO has both 'simple' and 'advanced' search options Simple searching covers: Journal title, Journal abbreviation or acronym, ISSN, ESSN, and Publisher name. Advanced searching also covers: RoMEO publisher ID, RoMEO Colour, and Update date. It also lets you specify a research funder, to check for compliance with their open access mandate.

Common abbreviations and acronyms are provided by the Entrez database.

Restricting searches by funding agency compliance

RoMEO advanced searching offers the option of restricting your search results by the funding agency compliance of the publisher policies. This is currently limited to funding agencies listed in JULIET. Authors funded by RCUK or the Wellcome Trust should use SHERPA/FACT to determine the best way to comply with their funder's open access requirements.

If you feel that a publisher is not listed correctly, please contact us

I cannot find the journal I want.

The Journal search function is set as default to 'exact title', if you are having problems locating a journal you may wish to try altering the search settings to 'starts with' or 'contains'.

Do not use 'The' in your search terms, e.g. use 'Journal of...' instead of 'The Journal of...'

If you can not find the journal title, try searching by ISSN or ESSN.

If you are still unsuccessful, but know the publishers name, try searching by Publisher for their general policy, as the journal title may not yet be covered by RoMEO.

Why do you not list, for example, the Proceedings of National Academy of Science?

Proceedings and Transactions can be listed in various ways, eg 'Proceedings-', 'Proceedings -', 'Proceedings of'. If you are unable to find the required item, try using the 'contains' function and enter the Society name instead.

I tried to search by ISSN, but it said the number was wrong.

Please check you have entered the number correctly, in the format XXXX-XXXX

Spelling

RoMEO does not automatically suggest alternative spellings for words, so check that you have spelt the title correctly Alternatively, try the ISSN.

SHERPA provides an RSS feed that lists new publisher entries on RoMEO.

Do you have an email alert?

We send out a monthly email alert, detailing new entries and updates to existing entries on both RoMEO and JULIET. This is normally sent at the end or beginning of the next month. Occasionally, emails may also be sent relating to any disruption of the service. Please contact us, if you wish to be added to this list.

You do not need to be on this list to receive this information, as we also provide details on updates and new additions to RoMEO both online and via an RSS feed (new additions only). Notices, indicating any disruption to our service, are also placed on the RoMEO homepage.

Is RoMEO available in other languages?

RoMEO aims to provide publisher policies in their native language. In addition, several groups have worked to translate RoMEO into their native language. Currently RoMEO is available in English, Hungarian, Portuguese, and Spanish.